Home health care services provided to the Fulton area by Suncrest Home Health at 850 Hospital Drive in Fulton won't be lost after all. The services will be provided by another business.
Oxford HealthCare, a Cox Health affiliate, has announced it is assuming day-to-day operations of Florida-based Suncrest Home Health's location in Fulton.
Suncrest announced earlier it was closing its Fulton office. This left employees and clients with the possibility of no work or care.
But Oxford HealthCare has decided to assume all of Suncrest's operations in Fulton.
Wes McGuirk of Columbia, regional director of Oxford HealthCare, said Oxford did not purchase Suncrest Home Health but is stepping up and hiring Suncrest's former employees and will continue to provide services from Oxford's base in Columbia.
"We already had some clients throughout Central Missouri. And this expansion allows us to add additional clients in the Fulton area," McGuirk said.
McGuirk said the current Suncrest office at 850 Hospital Drive in Fulton will close. Services to clients will continue with the same employees but the firm will be under new ownrship. McGuirk said nearly all of the Oxford's employees work from their homes and provide home health care services to clients. "We may open an office in Fulton at some time in the future," McGuirk said.
McGuirk said seven former Suncrest employees in Fulton have been hired by Oxford HealthCare. They are Dana Johnson, Sam Bemboom, Vickie Lee, Martha Krampe, Angela McPike, Amber Biyleu and Dana Berhorst.
"Because of our continued growth and expansion," said Karen Thomas, president of Oxford HealthCare, "we are able to offer work within our company at a time when many companies are cutting back on services offered and areas covered."
After speaking with Fulton physicians and community leaders, Thomas said Oxford representatives learned the level of dedication that Suncrest employees had for their clients.
For this reason, Thomas said, Oxford decided to make a commitment to hire Suncrest employees to keep them working with clients to make sure that care is continued and uninterrupted.